LAWRENCE SCHUBERT has cultivated his performing and teaching careers with equal enthusiasm and has established an outstanding reputation on Long Island in both roles.
As a private teacher, Mr. Schubert particularly enjoys the critical process of guiding young beginners at the earliest stages, yet for the accomplished student of advanced repertoire, he offers the authoritative and knowledgeable perspective of an acclaimed concert artist.
Most of his young students begin lessons simply to enrich their lives and enjoy the unique pleasures of music-making. Mr. Schubert takes immense pleasure in helping these students develop their love for music and grow as players. (Videos of students as young as 5 can be seen on the VIDEOS page of this website.)
At the other end of the spectrum, his former students have been accepted at SUNY Stony Brook, the Crane School of Music, Ithaca College, Queens College, The Peabody Conservatory, The Mannes School of Music, The Manhattan School of Music, and The Eastman School of Music. They have been winners in the competitions of the Suffolk Piano Teachers Foundation, the American Fine Arts Foundation and the Concert Festival organization, as well as the Vivo International Music Competition, the Golden Classical Music Awards Competition, the Rondo Young Artist Competition, and the Associated Music Teachers League Competition. Mr. Schubert is a member of the Suffolk Piano Teachers Foundation, The Piano Teachers Congress of New York, the Associated Music Teachers League and the American College of Musicians/National Guild of Piano Teachers.
In addition to his extensive teaching schedule at his home in Greenlawn, Mr. Schubert taught on the faculty at the Long Island High School for the Arts (formerly the Nassau BOCES Cultural Arts Center) for fifteen years, where he gave classes in harmony and ear training, and coached chamber ensembles and piano duos. His text Introduction to Four-Part Harmony was used for his classes at the school, (for more information, click onto the Harmony Book page). Previously, he taught for thirteen years in the music department at Molloy College and gave courses for the general public through the Touro College Post-Graduate Continuing Education Program.
As a performer, Mr. Schubert has received outstanding critical acclaim for his four major New York recitals at Town Hall and the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. The New York Times praised him as "a superior pianistic talent" and "a patrician musical intellect." He has performed in eight states for concert halls, colleges, museums, libraries, and radio broadcasts. Mr. Schubert has been heard as recitalist at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and in London, at both Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room. He has performed as soloist in Venezuela with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Maracaibo and his performance of the Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 with the South Carolina Philharmonic was broadcast nationwide.
Here on Long Island, Mr. Schubert has given more than 125 solo recitals, including a program for the Hofstra University International Series. He has also enjoyed playing in unconventional venues, such as private homes, public schools, piano stores (10 recitals), and the Vanderbilt Museum Planetarium (12 recitals with commentary and visual projections).
Mr. Schubert's CD of music by the Hungarian pianist-composer Ernö Dohnányi was released internationally on the Naxos label in 2003. The American Record Guide "warmly recommended" the recording and praised Mr. Schubert as "an eloquent exponent of this literature" (click onto the CD page for more information).
A problem with his hands led Mr. Schubert to retire from concertizing in June of 1997, but he continues to pursue his lifelong passion for excellence in music education.
Before embarking on his career in classical music, Mr. Schubert was also involved in the world of jazz. He played for several years in a quartet with the celebrated saxophonist Steve Grossman, just prior to Grossman's tours with Miles Davis and Elvin Jones.1 Although he never pursued jazz professionally, he enjoyed the experience of sitting in with jazz greats like Elvin Jones (seven times, as the result of Elvin's invitation to return "any time"), Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware, Tommy Turrentine, Joe Farrell, Frank Foster, Elliot Zigmund, Lee Konitz, Pepper Adams, Clark Terry, etc.
1 Steve Grossman mentions his association with Mr. Schubert in an interview here.
"Grossman moved back to New York with his family at some point around 1965 and they were living on Long Island. Around that time he met some musicians who were trying to emulate the music of John Coltrane. They included pianist Larry Schubert who, according to Liebman and Grossman, could sound like McCoy Tyner of Coltrane's classic quartet, and was on a level of Chick Corea in ability"...Steve Grossman: Foundations and Environments That Contributed to the Making of a Jazz Tenor Saxophone Icon. Doctoral thesis by Jonathan David Beckett, Univesity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 2013.
"It was around the age of fourteen in 1965 that the Grossman family moved back to New York. This is where Steve ended up meeting musicians who were interested in emulating the sounds of John Coltrane’s famous quartet. Larry Schubert, a pianist, Jimmy Sutherland, a drummer and bassist Lanny Fields who emulated the sounds of McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison respectively. This may or may not be Grossman’s first exposure to Coltrane, however this emulation would play heavily into his incredibly successful career in New York."...From Coltrane to Bebop: An Analysis of the Career and Playing of Steve Grossman by David Bernot B.M., University of Denver, 2016
"Lawrence Schubert is a convincing, eloquent exponent of this literature and his performances prove musically captivating...warmly recommended"
American Record Guide, May/June, 2003
"a precision-honed elegance that bespoke a patrician musical intellect...a graceful lyrical ardor, an abundance of rhythmic vitality, and a warmly urgent communicative spirit...clearly the product of a superior pianistic talent."
Peter G. Davis, New York Times
"SCHUBERT, PIANIST, EXCELS...a warehouseful of Romantic tricks of the trade...creative interpretation...an unmistakable flair...This was impressive playing.
Joseph Horowitz, New York Times
"Unlike so many of the soulless pounders...he knows how to caress a phrase...a lovely feeling for lyrical simplicity."
John Rockwell, New York Times
"gift of sincerity in communication...there was no room to doubt the American artist's technical brilliance."
Musical Opinion, London
"razor-sharp finger precision and subtle tonal shadings...I suspect that Schubert's energy and concentration could captivate an audience while he practiced the C major scale."
The Daily Item, Sumpter, S. Carolina
"Schubert played with style and elegance, lyrical intensity and intelligence all evening."
The Daily Record, Wooster, Ohio
"splendid form and a most thoughtful strategy...the result made the music come alive."
WTMI, Miami, Florida
"moody, intense, tempestuous."
Newsday, Long Island, N.Y.
